On shoddy officiating, COVID’s impact and Pac-12 women’s hoops, along with a little Terry Stotts and Charles Barkley …
Reflections from ye old scribe on a few sporting subjects …
• I’m rarely one to criticize sports officials. I have friends who are referees and admire their integrity and intestinal fortitude. I umpired and refereed during my high school and college years. I believe those who work college and pro sports most often do a very credible job.
But what happened Saturday night in Seattle was nothing short of a travesty.
Something new: A weekly menu of sports book reviews
As a service to our readers — the ones who enjoy sports books — we’ll critique an offering a week from now until Christmas.
The first one is a book written by one of my favorite writers and a great guy familiar to sports fans in this area. Bud Withers worked for a long time for the Seattle Times and P-I, but before that was with the Register-Guard in Eugene, where he came across one of the most polarizing figures ever to hit the Northwest college basketball scene.
Beavers flop, Ducks hop In their season openers
A few observations on the Beavers and Ducks after debut Saturday of Pac-12 football …
Watch a replay of Trail Blazers Courtside
I’ll be a guest on Trail Blazers Courtside Monday night from 7:15-7:45 pm with Jordan Kent and Michael Holton on NBC Sports Northwest and simulcast on Rip City Radio 620.
The Mayor of Rip City Wants To Be Voiceover Guy For Your Voicemail
For our next contest, a twist. We’re going to award the lucky winner some interaction with the great Bill Schonely.
Wishing the best For two of the best In the SID business
The coronavirus pandemic has affected all of us, and in many ways.
At Oregon State, 23 positions in the athletic department were eliminated recently, including two of the five full-time members of the sports information staff.
These folks let go to help cut the department’s financial losses aren’t greenhorns. Steve Fenk had been a member of the SID staff since 1990, the head of the department since 2004. Jason Amberg, who had been on board as an assistant for 16 years, was Fenk’s first hire.
From Lincoln Logs to football stadiums: Jim Wilson’s thoughts on each of the Pac-12 venues …
It is a strange feeling to watch a football game without fans in the stands. It is even stranger to watch college football on Saturdays knowing that Pac-12 football stadiums are sitting idle.
Through these unprecedented times, I’ve learned how much I appreciate all the pageantry and build-up around the stadiums and the energy that college football fans bring to the overall atmosphere.
And I miss the stadiums themselves.
Fifty years ago, the Blazers got it all started with a victory over the Cavs …
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the first regular-season game ever played by the Trail Blazers.
It was also the first professional game for rookie guard Geoff Petrie, one of the best players in franchise history and later the club’s general manager. And it was the first NBA game called by Bill Schonely, who was to become a legend and perhaps the most popular figure ever with the Blazers.
The date was Oct. 16, 1970. Portland beat fellow expansion club Cleveland 115-112 before a crowd of 4,723 at Memorial Coliseum.
On Pac-12 football, Pat Casey and Bud Ossey, MLB to PDX, Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat and Chad Doing and the Denver Broncos …
The Pac-12 football schedule was (finally) announced Saturday, with Oregon fans happy with the Ducks’ lone crossover game, Oregon State fans not so much.
The Ducks, ranked 14th in the latest AP poll, play host to Chip Kelly’s UCLA Bruins on Nov. 20. The Bruins were 4-8 a year ago. The Beavers’ only game against a South Division opponent, meanwhile, is at defending South champion Utah on Dec. 5.
For Ron Callan, a strange yet fulfilling night at CenturyLink Field
Through covering and working for the Seahawks for 40 years, I never expected to be watching a game in an empty Century Link Field. Beginning in 1981, I covered the Seahawks as a radio reporter, serving as a member of the Seahawks’ broadcast team (1995-2002). Since that time, I have worked the home games as a member of the Seahawks staff. I have the incredibly intense and rewarding job as the internal public address announcer. From my seat in the NFL stats room, I relate the official stats to the throng of media and others packing the stadium's press box.
With David Adelman, Talking “the Joker and Jamal” and the Nuggets’ amazing ride to the Western Conference finals
David Adelman was up past midnight Thursday in his hotel room on the Disney campus in Orlando. For the better part of an hour, the Denver Nuggets assistant coach was Facetiming with wife Jenny and their two children, son L.J., 6, and daughter Lennan, 5, who were all back home in Denver. And there was some conversation with Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.
Talking Beaver women’s hoops, Along with a little golf, with Coach Scott Rueck …
I’ve known Scott Rueck since shortly after he took over the Oregon State women’s basketball helm in 2010 and have admired the program he has built from the rubble he inherited from his predecessor, LaVonda Wagner.
Our contest winner, Milt Kintzley, loves Beaver baseball
Silverton resident Milt Kintzley, winner of our Sept. 1 drawing for “Wherever You May Be: The Bill Schonely Story,” is a long-time fan of Oregon State sports.
But the biggest interest for Milt and his wife of 47 years, Kathryn, is Beaver baseball.
As coaches go, as people go, Dick Coury was a gem
I saw a local car dealer’s “Believe in Nice” ad today.
It made me think of a man whose life embodied that approach.
To Dick Coury, “nice” was more than a slogan. It was his way of life. Sunup to sundown.
On Cliff Robinson, Another one gone before his time From the early ‘90s Blazers …
Cliff Robinson’s death Friday at the age of 53 leaves another gaping hole in the heart of Rip City.
In 2008, Kevin Duckworth died of congestive heart failure. He was 44.
In 2015, Jerome Kersey passed away from the effects of a blood clot. He was 52.
My take on the NBA boycott, and why players were wise to not go dark the rest of the season
I’m glad NBA players decided Thursday not to boycott for the rest of the season.
Not because something like $1 billion in national television rights is riding on the playoffs, though that’s certainly a consideration, too.
The Schonz is still going strong at 91!
Bill Schonely, centenarian Bud Ossey, former Oregon baseball/basketball star Rob Closs and Kerry Eggers enjoy lunch at Tualatin Country Club.
How would Beaver teams of the early ’80s and ’19-20 compare? There’s really no comparison
Has anybody seen the website WhatIfSports.com? It is an interactive site that allows users to select sports teams from different eras and pit them against each other in a computer simulated game. It is an intriguing concept -- having players and teams from different eras compete as if they were in their respective primes.
I’m not sure how a computer decides whether Dr. J can rise over Giannis Antetokounmpo, but it certainly sparks debate.
Blazers-Lakers should be an intriguing matchup. And my pick for the series winner is …
A few observations as the eighth-seeded Trail Blazers take on the challenge of facing the top-seeded L.A. Lakers in a seven-game first-round playoff series to which everyone across NBA circles will be paying attention …
• In a word, watching the Blazers’ nine-game run-up to the NBA playoffs has been fun.
Not because they made it — after 45 years in the sportswriting business, I’ll probably never think like a fan — but because Portland’s seeding games have been so watchable.
Ask A Beaver Anything
I’ll be participating in a "Ask A Beaver Anything" livestream on the "Beavers Behind Enemy Lines” group on Facebook on Friday August 14, 2020 at 5 pm. You are invited to post questions about Oregon State sports and I’ll do my best to answer them.